You may be asking yourself whether this is a business course, or a course about technology. The answer is that it is both. Introduction to E-Business is a course that delves into Internet technology and how it is shaping today's business world and what the business world of tomorrow will look like. While you will not be asked to learn how to program computers or to operate complex Web sites, you will be exposed to some of the technology "behind the scenes" because know a little bit about how things work will help you to understand the big picture.

Chances are that if you are taking this course, you would like to progress in your career. There is no industry that has not been touched by the Internet in some way, some for the better and some for the worse. My goal is to provide you with the kind of information you can use at your place of work or in the business you own to make better decisions about your e-business strategy.

In order to accomplish this goal, the course will proceed on two tracks. The first will be a series a small assignments that step you through the basic process of creating a Web page. You will learn a little about HTML, CSS and using templates. Those words may mean nothing to you now, but by the end of the course, they will. If you happen to have experience with HTML already you may find these assignments easy, maybe even a little boring. That's ok. It never hurts to review the basics.

The second track will be focused on business and how the Internet and World Wide Web has transformed today's business environment. You will learn about different Web site strategies and how they fit in with the larger goals of organizations. You'll also learn about how to use the Internet for marketing your business plus ways of making money online. There are also a number of legal issues to review and, finally, we'll spend the last week of the course looking ahead and speculating about how the Internet will change business in future.